Wireless network operators provide access to their wireless communication networks using either postpaid or prepaid accounts. Postpaid accounts allow customers to pay for some portion of their wireless access after such access. For example, a postpaid account may involve prepaying for a set number of minutes of access on one monthly statement, and the customer then pays for the excess minutes of access on the next monthly statement. In contrast to postpaid accounts, prepaid accounts require an upfront payment prior to providing access to the network. The upfront payment is for a predetermined period of access, e.g., a number of minutes or number of days. Upon expiration of the predetermined period of access, the customer is not allowed access to the wireless communication network until they purchase a new or additional predetermined period of access.
Currently most prepaid techniques relate to interconnect voice communications. Interconnect voice communications are those offered by most wireless network operators as circuit-switched communications. Another type of voice communications that is being offered by more wireless network operators is dispatch voice communications. Dispatch voice communications are commonly known as walkie-talkie or push-to-talk (PTT) types of communications, such as Sprint Nextel Corporation's service identified by the trade name Direct Connect.
One technique for offering prepaid services for interconnect voice communication services involves an interconnect prepaid server that is located external to the wireless network operator's network. All interconnect calls for prepaid subscribers are routed through the interconnect prepaid server, which monitors the length of the calls and adjusts the amount of available access remaining based on the length of the interconnect calls. This technique requires all interconnect prepaid calls to be routed through a server located external to the network operator's network. Although there has been a fair amount of development of prepaid interconnect services, due to the relatively recent interest in deploying dispatch communication services, there has been relatively little development of prepaid dispatch services.